Five things to look out for at the Brit Awards

The Brit Awards take place in London tonight and will be celebrating the best of the British and international music scene.

Grime artists are on top this year, with Stormzy, Skepta and Kano all in the running for major awards – a sea change from last year's ceremony when music fans heaped scorn on the awards for failing to include a single black British artist in the line-up.

So what should viewers look out for at tonight's ceremony?

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A surprise guest for Ed Sheeran?

Speaking to Nick Grimshaw on Radio 1, Sheeran let slip that he would not be performing alone when he takes to the stage tonight.

Discussing his performance, the Shape of You singer said: "I think we're the penultimate act."

So could Sheeran be bringing a mystery plus one to this evening's ceremony? One Direction frontman Harry Styles is the favourite prediction among Twitter fans. Hopefully, they won't be too heartbroken if it turns out Sheeran's tease was just a slip of the tongue.

#BritsNotSoWhite

Last year, unimpressed viewers flooded Twitter with the hashtag #BritsSoWhite, referencing the fact that only four of the 48 nominated acts were from a non-white background – but the line-up for 2017 looks very different.

Grime star Skepta is tied with Little Mix for most nominations of the night. The performers are in the running for three awards including best British album, while black British acts such as Emeli Sande, Kano, Nao and Michael Kiwanuka are also included in a diverse field of nominees.

Organisers insist that the line-up is not the result of a conscious effort to avoid criticism, but simply a reflection of modern British musical talent.

Re-Rewind for Craig David fans

It's been 16 years since Craig David, then a fresh-faced teenager, was first nominated for a Brit Award, says Sky News, and until last year music fans could be forgiven for thinking his days of chart-topping fame were behind him.

After slipping out of the UK charts and becoming a figure of fun on the TV sketch show Bo' Selecta, David moved to Miami and re-established his street cred, building up an online following by uploading his DJ sets to SoundCloud.

Last year, he successfully relaunched himself as a soulful garage artist with Following My Intuition, released in September 2016 to critical acclaim. What better way to celebrate his comeback than picking up the Brit Award for Best Male Artist?

Posthumous wins

Standing between Craig David and glory is David Bowie. The glam rock icon, who died last year, is nominated on the back of his final album Blackstar and it's hard to see one of the biggest British stars of all time failing to bag the award.

Also up for an award from beyond the grave is gravel-voiced Canadian songwriter Leonard Cohen, nominated for Best International Solo Artist. But Cohen didn't enjoy quite the same popularity on this side of the Atlantic as national treasure Bowie, making Drake the boy to beat in that category.

Wacky outfits

Awards shows are synonymous with weird and wonderful outfits, but the Brits always produces more than its share of egregious cases for the fashion police.

"This year's red carpet walkers have some heavy competition from history," says BBC Newsbeat, adding that "Labrinth turned up last year looking like a human Magic Eye picture".

See the full list of nominees here.